


I'm Drowning In You

by MandyCandy



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Additional Warnings Apply, Dear of death, Dreams and Nightmares, Drowning, Drowning in a car, F/M, Fear, Near Death Experiences, Nightmares, Ridiculous regrets, Trapped in a car in water, trapped in a car
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 04:56:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14867030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MandyCandy/pseuds/MandyCandy
Summary: Lucy has a reoccurring nightmare about drowning in her car. Now it has changed and she's not sure how to cope.WARNING:Contains detailed description of drowning in a car and being trapped in a car while it sinks in water.This is based on a real experience.





	I'm Drowning In You

     Lucy has had the same nightmare for the last decade off and on, usually when she's really stressed or is about to make a big life changing move or decision. She had it when she applied for tenure, and again when the meeting with the board was cancelled. She had it the night after she first met Garcia Flynn and again after he kidnapped her. She had it every night she was being held by Rittenhouse, and the week Jessica returned from the dead. The month after her mother was killed and Rufus died and came back, it was always the same. 

     She was driving across the same bridge she always drove over from school to her mother's, when she hit the oil slick on the black road. Her hands gripped the wheel as she fought for control of her small car, but it spun anyway. The wheels locked and the drivers side of the car hit the railing and rolled on it's side, balancing precariously before flipping over the railing and dropping to the black water below.

     The thing about being trapped in a sinking car is that no matter how hard you push that door, it's not going to open. The pressure of the water on the outside is so much stronger than anyone trapped inside. Don't bother rolling down the window until you're completely submerged.

     The front of the car is heavier. You sink facing the dark embrace of the freezing water.

     She always turns in the dream, struggling against her seatbelt, to look up. The street lamps on the road becoming distant stars in the night. Icy water pouring in through the vents and soaking her feet. She pushes the deflating airbag down and tries to undo her seat belt, but it's stuck. She pulls it, screaming, tears running down her face and glances over her shoulder. The street lights are fading.

     The water in the car is reaching up her legs.

     The battery stops working now, her headlights cut out, the interior lights fade out. Leaving her alone. In the dark. Sinking.

     She jerks as the nose of the car hits the bottom of the river bed. In something that feels like slow motion, the car settles right side up, the back wheels hitting the ground giving a small thud. A cloud of sediment rises in the water, giving an erie illusion of the river trying to hide her from being found.

     Now that the car has settled, the water is rushing in, trying to equalize the pressure inside and out. It rises to her thighs. The seat belt is still stuck.

     It's at her waist now, her teeth chatter in the cold. He pulls at the belt, screaming that she just wanted to see her mom!

     It's at her chest.  _If I survive,_ she promise the black,  _I will finish my history degree. No more dreams of being in a band._

     The seatbelt finally unclicks and she throws it from her body. She tries to push the door open but it's stuck. She tries the automatic windows but with a dead battery they don't budge.

     The water is at her throat now. The panic sets in completely. She's choking back sobs and half verbalised promises and regrets. Tears track down her cheeks, her lip quivering from fear, the cold no longer a concern.

     Inching up to her chin, the water reminds her of the monster under her bed when she was five as it creeps towards her mouth, not letting her get away from its grasp this time.

      _She doesn't actually love her boyfriend._

     Lucy tilts her face up towards the roof where the air bubble is quick disappearing. She takes a breath and tries the door again. No luck.

      _She didn't tell her mom she loved her last night_.

     She bangs against the window, he salty tears lost to the salty river water, as she gulped the cold water, no air left to breath.

      _She didn't reply to Amy's text this afternoon._  

     This is where she usually wakes up. When she was rescued, she had no idea who had pulled her from the icy grave, she was unconscious and on the edge of death.

     This time was different.

     This time she opened her eyes as she swam down into the water, her lungs burning, eyes stinging from the salt. She looked down at the grey car, the silhouette of a body in the driver's seat, not moving. She couldn't tell if it was her or not. It looked wrong.

     She got to the driver's door and couldn't open it. The whole driver's side was crushed from the impact. She swam to the other and opened the passenger side. One hand on the roof of the car, she reached in and grabbed the arm of the person in black.

     She pulled hard. Pulling them from the car. She swam to the surface and held Garcia's head above the water.

      _Garcia._

     That's when she woke up.

     All these years, all these nightmares, and never once did it deviate. So why now?

 _Because,_ a small voice said in the back of her mind.  _Falling in love is just like drowning._

**Author's Note:**

> This was as a thought I had been having for a while now.  
> I had been in an accident where I was trapped in a sinking car years ago, and considering it happened to Lucy as well, I wanted to capture the reoccurring trauma that comes from it.
> 
> I also totally wrote this on the streetcar on my way home from work.  
> So forgive its simplicity :)


End file.
